Doctor Who Classicfied: Aliens of London
by Derek Metaltron
Summary: It's Aliens of London, circa 1966! When the Doctor, Steven and Vicki visit old friends Ian and Barbara, they certainly don't expect to witness a spaceship crash into Big Ben and discover an alien plot! Part of the Doctor Who Classicified Series. 2 of 6.
1. Crash!

_Across the furthest reaches of Time and Space, a hero known only as the Doctor travels within his TARDIS, determined to the last to protect the universe from some of its most evil forms. In particular, the Doctor has developed a fondness for the planet called Earth, saving it time and time again across multiple incarnations and personalities, be he alone or alongside his most loyal and trusted companions._

_But would his greatest adventures have been different if he had been in another body? Would a different ally change things for the better… or worse? If the deeds of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors had been performed by an earlier incarnation, what would happen then? This is…_

**DOCTOR WHO CLASSICFIED: ALIENS OF LONDON**

**Starring William Hartnell as the Doctor, Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, William Russell as Ian Chesterton and Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright**

_**This story takes place between '**__**Galaxy 4' and 'The Myth Makers'**_

* * *

It was quiet upon the street corner, the early morning rays casting long shadows of a place which betrayed its era – mid to late sixties, the distant noise of traffic within the busier side of this great city, a collection of papers from a recent demonstration flapping on the ground. All appeared to be calm.

Then, all at once, there was the sound of groaning and whirring as within this corner of a quiet London Street on a glorious spring morning, an object seemed to appear as if from nowhere, its vague shape that of a rectangular cube, and with the shade of strong blue. As time passed the form became clearer, eventually proving to be unmistakable as a London Police Box of the previous decade.

The light atop the box stopped flashing and after a few moments, a figure stepped out onto the cobbled streets. He was an elderly gentleman of what seemed in his late seventies, though if someone was to stare deep enough into his eyes, they seemed to give off an almost ageless quality to them, as if he could be ten or ten thousand years old all at once. He wore a costume which almost suited the last century than this one, and he carried a long brown cane in one hand, in which fixed to one finger he wore a ring with a beautiful purple orb within.

This odd man began to glance about at the various objects within the street, including a red post box, the architecture of the 1930's built home opposite his entry point and finally, that of the single streetlamp at the corner, which stood next to the box and was presently unlit. The figure gave a satisfied grunt and then motioned to someone within the box that was as yet unseen as he stepped out further out into the road, apparently quite content in his present surroundings.

Were anyone from this place and time actually present on the street, and having already seen these twin oddities of a Police Box appearing from nowhere, _and_ a man within glancing out as if checking for whether the sky might be blue or green, they would surely have been completely confused by how two further people – a younger, late twenties something man with a determined frown of perplexity, and a still younger woman, with a smile that betrayed a mixture of child-like curiosity and the slight tinges of nervousness – could also fit within this apparent small space of the Police Box.

Of course, were said person able to look beyond those two they might have seen - with further amazement, no doubt - that the Police Box appeared to contain within its apparent small stature a huge room with blinking lights, a hat-stand, a bust of Napoleon, several timepieces and in the centre, a hexagonal console with a seemingly infinite number of buttons, levers and switches. Most likely the person would have fainted by the number of impossibilities by this stage in proceedings, so it was fortunate that such a person did not exist.

The Police Box was in fact an alien device known as the TARDIS, so first called by the absent granddaughter of the elderly man who had first stepped out of its disguised exterior, to stand for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. The elder of the group was only known as the Doctor, and the other two individuals, named Steven Taylor and Vicki Pallister, were not entirely sure who or what he was, but over the course of many adventures throughout the cosmos and history of Earth, had learnt to count him as a good friend.

"Hm! Very good! Heh heh!" The Doctor was nodding his head at his surroundings, having adopted a beaming smile and chuckle, and was speaking, if to anyone, to that of himself. "And most ironical, as well! All those months of trying to get them back... and it's only afterwards that I realised that by adjusting the TARDIS' circuits properly and by the most exact degrees, I was able to land just where I wanted! A little slight off course geometry mind... but just right chronologically! Never have I managed so well on that count, hm?" And at this he turned his attention back to his somewhat flustered companions.

Steven gave the Doctor a hardened glance before he decided to speak. "If you wouldn't be so mysterious Doctor... what exactly are we doing here? You mentioned something in the TARDIS about a 'long-overdue' visit, but what connects that with here?"

Before the Doctor could reply Vicki, who had been spellbound at the sight of her own planet's history alive in front of her, just as she had been in Nero's Rome and Norman Britain, suddenly gave a sharp exclamation of delight. "Oh Doctor, you mean to say we're going to go and see...?"

The Doctor nodded as he gave her a beaming smile. "Quite right my dear, a visit to Ian Chesterton and Miss Barbara Wright is in order, if only to wipe the smug look off Chesterton's face that if he had been prepared to wait, I could have gotten to this time period eventually, it just that the Dalek Time Ship was a little... um, more reliable in that regard, that's all." He was, of course, referring to the adventure where he and Vicki, together with Ian and Barbara, former travelling companions of the Doctor and his departed granddaughter Susan, had been pursued by their old enemies the Daleks in their own time machine. It had been through this device that the two old friends of the Doctor, quite determined to return to their own time, had left him and returned to the comforts of the 1960's.

"Of course that is the second reason I am here... not that I trust that Chesterton didn't blow up the Dalek ship to prevent those of immoral design to have access to it, but I would quite like to examine the wreckage myself... just to be certain. I wouldn't want any of those metal pepper-pots detecting a signal or any other in the remains and showing up to menace the world a few centuries early, hm?" With this the old man fixed his cane firmly on the ground and after a short intake of breath, moved surprisingly briskly for his age. He seemed to know exactly where he was headed, and with a look of self-assurance between them Steven and Vicki were soon by his side as the sun gradually rose amidst a colourful display of planted trees by the London roadside.

In the distance, the familiar sight of the waters of the Thames, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben's mighty spire could be seen. London was not a new city to either of the Doctor's companions – Vicki had visited it in her own future, and both had recently travelled back to even earlier than this and seen the same river frozen in a frost fair of the early Nineteenth Century where they had become involved in the schemes of a heat-stealing Phoenix and met Jane Austen of all people. Vicki and Steven both knew that to travel with the Doctor to anywhere in the universe, Earth Past or Future or indeed another planet entirely was far from dull.

It could also be very dangerous – the TARDIS had a knack for picking places where some evil force or threat would be bound to be waiting for them, but to counter it would always be the Doctor. Neither of them knew which planet the Doctor came from, though they had met and battled one of the Doctor's own people – a wicked foe named the Meddling Monk – upon Earth in the run-up to the Norman Invasion of Britain. But whatever the Doctor was, he was a kindly man and friend, and so both enjoyed the twined excitements and dangers that his time and space machine took them to. Even so, the chance to catch up with two old friends and relax in 1960's Britain for a time did seem a tempting offer.

* * *

After a few minutes of twisting this way and that, down one street and left from another, the numbers of people within the Capitol began to swell in front of them, natives and tourists alike. The Doctor finally spotted another quietened area, ascended the steps of a grand looking house and glanced keenly at the brass number on the door before grinning and knocking gently with a metal clapper.

Within a matter of moments, the door was opened by a woman of some sixty years old and gave an inquisitive stare back at the Doctor. Just behind him, Vicki tried to discern the woman's features; there was something oddly familiar about the face, the shape of the nose and eye colour. At once she gave a sudden gasp of first surprise and then delight, for she was sure that she had worked out the identity of this individual.

The Doctor nodded slightly to the confused woman. "Ah, greetings to you madam. You must be Miss Barbara Wright's mother, I expect."

The woman nodded. "I am Joan Wright, yes. Is there something Barbara can do for you? I'm afraid she's not yet up and she does rather have a great deal of work to do today for her students."

The Doctor beamed. "Ah yes, I remember. She once taught my granddaughter at Coalhill School, and I'm pleased to hear that-" At this the old man faltered for Ms Wright had fixed him with an intense stare. "Is something the matter, madam?"

"Barbara hasn't taught at Coalhill in three years." Joan Wright spoke ruefully, for clearly this was a period of her daughter's life she was not proud of. "Not since that disappearing act she had with young Mr Chesterton in 1963. Something about a granddaughter in..." At this she suddenly gave a yelp of anger, and then pointed a boned finger at the Doctor. "You're _him_, aren't you? That old man she spoke of when she thought I wasn't listening... All that foolish talk of being an African Missionary... Where did you go? What did you do with my daughter for two years that she can't tell me anything concrete about it, hey?" By now the Doctor was feeling uncomfortable in the wake of so much directed criticism, and he could clearly see where Barbara had gotten her determined view points and verbal strength from.

It was at this moment when Steven and Vicki, out of the firing line and considering how safe it might be to intercede in such a argument, that the sound of footsteps from upstairs could be heard, and a very recognisable voice emitted from the hallway.

"Mother? What on Earth are you doing down here, and why all the – DOCTOR!" True as life and emerging into the sunlight was a dear friend of all three of the time travellers, Miss Barbara Wright. She stared back, open-mouthed and amazed before a look of delight erupted and she almost moved forwards to hug the Doctor, just remembering in time the presence of her mother.

"I knew it!" the older Wright smirked at having being proved right. "I suspected as much when he arrived. He's the man that had something to do with those missing two years of yours, and it's _high time_ I had some answers!"

* * *

The reunion between the Doctor and Barbara Wright had not quite gone as planned due to the presence of her mother, and the Doctor had quickly realised that he was in a tricky situation. Even so, Ms Wright left the Living Room briefly at one point, giving the time travellers the opportunity to talk better to their once friend as best they could. Barbara was overjoyed to see them and had managed to put off her University Classes for the day – the fatal slipup that the Doctor had made was the fact that her unexplained absence could never get her back into her old school roots, hence the update to University, teaching Aztec History, no less, which the Doctor and through explanation his companions amusingly saw the point of – he, Barbara, Ian and Susan had travelled back to the age of the Aztecs and had Barbara mistaken for an ancient Mexican Goddess, leading to her being quite the expert.

Still Barbara, though happy to see the Doctor after a year apart and interested in the many adventures that Steven and Vicki had undertaken, knew that she had been placed in a difficult position. "I've been able to convince my mother for a whole year that my absence could be explained away, but she's never forgiven me for it. Ian and I thought that the two-year gap was sufficient, and that there was no point in returning to exactly when we left in 1963. But unfortunately it's made things very difficult for us."

The Doctor placed a reassuring hand on hers and gave a apologetic look. "I wished at the time that I could have returned you to when you left but the TARDIS is not an exact science, I'm afraid my dear. I thought that perhaps the Dalek Time Ship might be better but I can see I was wrong. Still, if what little I have heard so far is true, then you and Chesterton seem to have done fairly well in the circumstances, hm? In any case, I felt it would be ideal to visit the pair of you and see how you have gotten on... not to mention proving that it would have been possible to get you back to your home time eventually, hey?"

Of course Steven wanted to point out that it would have been close to three years of attempts for Ian and Barbara to get back had that been the case, but wisely he kept silent. Indeed Steven felt a little out of sorts with the whole situation – he after all had only met Barbara on his initial encounter with the Doctor, and by the time he had stumbled from the jungles of Mechanus and sought the safety of the mysterious blue box he eventually learnt to be the Doctor's TARDIS, both she and Barbara had left his company in the aforementioned Time Ship of the Daleks. Still he was happy to see her again, but much of the attention of Barbara was focused on the Doctor and Vicki, leaving Steven to consider whether her mother was at all listening by the door for any clues to her daughter's actions in the past.

Resigning himself to the fact that he was at present not at the centre of attention and thinking that when, having been called by Barbara not long ago, that at each he might find pleasant conversation with his old friend Ian Chesterton, Steven opted to look about the well-managed living room of Barbara's mother. It was well-kept and everything seemed to have a proper place. Steven had just fixed his gaze to looking out of the window towards the high-rise view and buildings in the distance when something in the sky caught his attention, a odd spot on an otherwise clear blue sunny morning day over Sixties London. Steven squinted hard, trying to work out if the object might be simply an old-fashioned aerial transport of the period like a small private plane. The object was getting larger, indeed it looked to be getting closer, and Steven had to hear a sudden raised voice from the Doctor to turn his attention away.

"Doctor, what is that there? I don't think it's a plane..."

Vicki, Barbara and the Doctor all turned to stare outside, and as the Doctor put on some spectacles to check closer, his face turned ash-white. "Bless my soul! It can't be! But..."

There was no mistaking it. It was a _spacecraft_. Steven had been a pilot of such vessels for some years before becoming a 'guest' of the Mechanoids, and whilst he did not know the origin or design of such a alien ship, he knew it to be the product of some advanced race, sleek even by the standards of Earth's own spaceships of his own time, several centuries in the future. And more to the point, it was in trouble. Both Steven and the Doctor recognised the engine damage and smoke emitting from the vessel as it plummeted towards...

"Oh my god! It's going to crash into the Houses of Parliament!" Barbara was aghast at such a thing from happening and there was the sudden scream of her mother as she entered the room and dropped the cups of tea she had been preparing from her hands to the carpeted floor.

Rushing past the shocked woman, the Doctor as quickly as he could manage moved through the hallway into the street, where several figures were staring up in twined emotions of fear and terror as the craft sped down alarmingly close to the seats of British power, Barbara and the others coming quickly behind him. As they continued to stare dumbly there was a sickening crash as the ship just missed the top of Parliament and then its right wing slammed into the clock tower of Big Ben, sending chunks crashing to the ground as it continued before plunging head first into the murky waters of the Thames, a huge spray of water drenching one side of the far bank. Even at this fair distance from the crash site, the travellers could see the pandemonium which was instantly spreading round the entire of Central London.

Vicki clutched the Doctor's arm and stared up at him, attempting to gain some sort of understanding from the incredible incident which had just occurred. He merely stared not at her but the ship, his eyes incredibly youthful and fiery. "This was not to happen, not now." They heard him mutter. Then he motioned at them to follow him and with swiftness surpassing his apparent age moved in the direction of the crash site. Earth was not meant to know of alien life, not yet. Something was wrong and as always within these circumstances, he resolved to put things right. Something told him that this time however would prove more difficult than it usually was.


	2. Reuniting

_OCC: Thanks for the reviews and comments thus far. I have changed the name and ethnicity of one of the characters in this chapter, mainly because I don't reckon you would have had a Indian Junior Secretary in the Mid Sixties. Mind you I have kept Harriet Jones and I'm not certain on the numbers of female politicians in this period, so please accept my apologies if this offends anyone as I'm trying to keep the Sixities feel alive in the story if at all possible. Thanks for listening! :)_

* * *

Ian Chesterton was _late,_ and it irritated him.

Being late was not something of a new experience for him of course. He'd narrowly avoided bombs in the Blitz as a terrified child because he hadn't listened enough to his mother about getting to the Anderson Shelters in time. He'd been a good hour late for the prospective interview at Coalhill School for the position of Science Teacher, the sweat dripping down his face in the middle of the waiting room as he'd struggled to come up with suitable excuses to the elderly headmaster.

And then the coup de grace; being _two years_ late to classes, work and life in general. The past twelve months had been a collection of frantic apologies, blunt dismissals, angry questions about his whereabouts and worse, Susan Foreman's whereabouts – he thought he'd never get another job ever. Only the prevailing hand of Barbara had kept him from screaming out at those more gruff interrogators what had _really_ happened. But he doubted a Police Constable would understand the concept of Thals and Web Planets and being knighted by King Richard and the knowledge that some two hundred years from now, London would be little more than burnt rumble.

Joan Wright of course had been the hardest person to convince. Ian secretly expected she'd never bought the African Mission story, and with today's events...

Ian shook his head, a smile on his face. Travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS had been one of the most incredible, terrifying and amazing experiences of his previously unfulfilled life. He'd gone from studying the stars to being out there amongst them, Barbara from History scholar to actually touching and living in History itself. And now, just as their lives were beginning to return to some level of normality... the Doctor was _back._

He'd been busy preparing for the regular Wednesday lecture in the local university when Barbara rang on the telephone with incredulous news. The thought that the mysterious traveller was actually here in Sixties London took a good moment to register – how many dozens of times had the fellow tried after all to get them back to 1963, only to meet Cavemen or Crusaders, or one of a dozen alien menaces?

Barbara seemed to think that the Doctor, determined to prove that with patience it would have been possible to get back, given a year or two, to their own era of Earth's history had thus come for such a visit. Ian thought he might also be anxious to inspect the remains of the Dalek Time Ship, or else allow their own friends Vicki and Steven the chance to experience their time with suitable guides.

Ian had been pleased to hear that Vicki – the Doctor's replacement in his life for a young adventurer in the absence of Susan – was still there in the Doctor's TARDIS to greet them, coupled with the surprising addition of Steven Taylor. Steven had been a prisoner of the Mechanoids when Ian and Barbara had left the Doctor so the thought he'd joined the Doctor and Vicki's travels was odd to Chesterton – like someone taking your favourite chair upon leaving your old house, he hadn't thought his shoes in the TARDIS would be filled so quickly, but all the same he was happy for the Doctor to continue to be surrounded by friends nonetheless.

The young teacher was thus heading down the London embankment in the direction of the Wright home, a briefcase in his hand; several objects inside of curiosity. He was anxious to show the Doctor an antique Muslim dagger from the Crusades he'd acquired - his interest in the period had extremely heightened since his visit to Twelve Century Jaffa, just as Barbara had demonstrated a desire to become an expert in Aztec History – and there were... _other _things he thought, given the Doctor's visit, that it might be high time to-

A loud honk, like the sound of a lorry on the motorway, caught his attention. Confusion at the direction of the sound made him look up... and his mouth dropped in astonishment.

A_ huge _alien spaceship was literally dropping out of the skies and veering down, its engines on fire. Ian blinked but the shape remained where it was, plummeting further down, dangerously close to the Houses of Parliament. Chesterton realized the danger and in a moment his survival instincts, homed from months of travels through time and space, made him dash in the direction of the troubles.

He was just in time as he rounded a corner to see the ship's wing slam into the side of Big Ben, and then plunge into the dirty waters of the Thames before coming to rest halfway into the river. Boats were seen to veer to avoid the impact waves, and he could hear the sirens of police, fire and ambulance whining ever closer. All of his thoughts were thus on one thing – after months of going to the aliens, the aliens appeared to have come to _him._

* * *

After a couple of minutes being the type of character who wanted to be helpful seemed foolish, for the entire area was quickly being sealed off - military types coming in to replace the local police forces. Ian was still a man of action even with a whole year of normality and loathed being sectioned off, his desire for knowledge making him irritated.

Then quite by chance he spotted the familiar face in the crowd, together with three people he never had expected to see again. "Barbara! Over here!"

She saw him and at once she rushed over to him. "I'm glad you were caught Ian, I was thinking of you and if you'd..." she trailed off as they hugged tightly before uncoupling whilst the other caught up. The days of their initial arm-length relationship had mostly evaporated in their twined knowledge and problems of explanation to the rest of the world, but it didn't stop them from being more than a tad embarrassed about such things in front of the Doctor.

The old man himself stepped up to Ian as the teacher was hugging Vicki and then shaking Steven warmly by the hand; a small smile on his face but his eyes reflecting the current situation as his various former and current travelling companions made their somewhat obscured reunions in the wake of the crashed spaceship.

"Well then Chesterton, it seems if you won't come with me to the aliens, I seem to bring the aliens to you and Miss Wright." A light chuckle came from his throat but he still appeared serious enough as he gazed round at the still terrified humans and military cording off the area round Central London.

Vicki was seen to glance about nervously. "I don't understand Doctor. In all the history books I read there never mentioned the ancient city of Old London having anything like this. You'd think they stick down something important as first contact with aliens..." She managed an intrigued smile back at the direction of the crashed vessel. "Not that I'm excited of the chance to be around to see it."

Steven was next to her and motioned to the Doctor. "Well I can't remember anything in history sessions back at flight school talking about this either, though I suppose it could have been lost in the mists of time, a sort of forgotten history Doctor?"

Ian gave a knowing smile to the others. "Hardly history to me and Barbara, Steven. Amazing... to think to there could be alien life just on our doorstep, after all those times we saw it in the past and future, and on all those incredible alien worlds... and now they're here Barbara, here in our own native time."

Miss Wright didn't give a response to that, her thoughts filled with dozen of feelings and fears – on aliens, the return of the Doctor in her and Ian's world, the worry of what to say to her mother, at being within history itself once more, only in a place she had known nearly all her life rather than being transported to Medieval Jaffa, Aztec Mexico or 100,000 BC.

The Doctor shook his head, his right hand firmly grasping his cane as he pondered Steven's question for a moment before giving an answer. "No my boy; I think Vicki is quite right. I had no knowledge that such events were to occur, which in itself makes me rather uncomfortable. I don't recognise the craft design, as I'm sure our future friends do not, hm?" There was a shake of the heads from Steven and Vicki. "Well then, we seem to be as much in the dark as the rest of this distant little blue world – quite a refreshing experience I think, heh heh!" He chuckled as he often did in times of great curiosity or amusement. Still, the threat of an unknown force on Earth did worry him, and the Time Lord continued to stare in the direction of the military forces and emergency services gathered about the shadow of Big Ben.

Steven pointed a finger at the mass of cars and troopers. "Well we're not going to get through all that easily. I suppose we could try the TARDIS-" He stopped at worried glances from his three human allies and conceded their mutual, mentally shared point. Even ignoring the fact that the area was being beset by military figures and in time those who on Earth in this period could be considered alien experts (Steven struggled to recall if such people as yet existed – he dimly recalled a alien-fighting organisation or two being secretly formed round about this period, but it might be too easy as yet for such a group to exist – maybe this could be the catalyst? He really couldn't remember.) would flood the area and so alien technology like the TARDIS would be considered a threat, the TARDIS itself was not the most reliable travelling machine, and Steven knew how long as simple a destination as Sixties London it had taken the Doctor to achieve. Asking for movement within that same place was pushing it – Steven wouldn't be surprised if the Doctor would slip up and they'd be arguing with Alexander the Great. _One of these days I'm going to force the Doctor to do his best to fix his damned machine properly_, he thought ruefully.

"So then, History is happening in front and we can't even get any closer." Barbara let out a long sigh, her very profession making her keen to be at the heart of the action, regardless of the danger. Even as they spoke they could see the soldiers were setting up perimeters, ordering civilians to move further and further away.

Ian put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We could always do what everybody else does. We could watch it on the Television."

* * *

Some thirty minutes later the quartet of space travellers, combined with an uncertain Joan Wright were back in the living room, their faces glued to the black and white BBC News Reports as they spoke excitedly and worriedly of the apparent alien arrival.

Vicki herself was finding the news fascinating in part because of the television itself. "I saw one in a museum once – your time has really small screens. Where I lived we had _whole screens_ on the side of buildings where the news would appear in three dimensions, and screens which could fit on watches, but it really is interesting to see-"

"What_ is_ that girl talking about?" interrupted a narrow eyed Joan Wright. "What does she mean, '_her time'_?"

Vicki quickly realized of the presence of Barbara's mother once more and was attempting to think of a way of avoiding 'Oh I was born about four centuries in your future, and Steven another century or so after that.', but thankfully Barbara interjected on her behalf. "Vicki's only messing about, mother, all those comic books she's read, she often thinks half of those future things are real where she comes from."

"Really?" Joan's eyes narrowed at Vicki, who attempted to avoid squirming back into the folds of her armchair, Miss Wright's gaze as deadly as a fully armed Dalek invasion force. "And where in Britain _do _you come from, Miss Pallister?"

For a moment Vicki feared to answer but she was thankfully saved by a snort from the Doctor who ordered for quiet as the television reporter, his voice excited and anxious. "_They've found a body. It is unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-human origins. I am told that it is being brought ashore by the divers. I repeat again for those of you just joining us on the BBC, an extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body of what is claimed to be an alien life form is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown."_

The Doctor shook his head thoughtfully as he turned to Steven and Ian. "Very strange – the human race is not meant to know about such things, dear me. I should know that this was to happen; the fact I do not is most troubling to me."

They all turned their attentions back to the TV Screen. "_We still don't know whether the alien is alive or dead. Whitehall seems to be denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, the roads closed off - it's the closest to the river..._ _I'm being told that... General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body. Contained inside those walls..."_

As the television was switched off the Doctor raised his hands and gained a thoughtful expression on his face. "Hm, most interesting... If I could only see that creature..."

Steven raised a hand in protest. "_Oh no_ Doctor, you're not going to soldier on in there and expect those military types to just let you do anything. In fact whatever you try I'm going with you – it's too dangerous with all that heightened security to let you go alone."

The older man seemed about to reply but Barbara placed a hand on his arm. "He's right Doctor, we don't know anything which is happening and to be honest, I'm not sure how much it affects us-"

She was startled as the Doctor snapped at her. "Doesn't affect you?! Ms Wright, there is an alien spaceship in the Thames and neither I nor any of our two..." He trailed slightly as he remembered Barbara's mother. "...my two assistants have any recognition of these events. It is most troubling to me. _That _is why I have to see this alien body for myself."

Barbara sighed – she knew from experience that there would be no stopping the Doctor if he was this determined, and she secretly agreed with him; the fact that Vicki and Steven had no memories of these events did trouble her a little, and she was certain Ian thought somewhat the same.

In all of her thought processes and the way she'd come to see the world through her time with the Doctor, the idea of what the Government would be doing to the threat of a possible alien incursion barely crossed her mind...

* * *

Downing Street was abuzz with activity as Junior Secretary Thomas Cummingham walked through the corridors of power, his mind working overtime regarding the whereabouts of the Prime Ministers and cabinet in this time of crisis. He felt a pang of nerves – when he'd signed up in the midst of the recent re-election of the current highest man in government, he hadn't expected his duties to be so alien in nature – the role within the European Community and continuing the prosperity of the decade certainly, but never had he imagined that he might have to consider an alien spaceship crashing in his backyard.

Of course he'd read some of the files. Reports of alien troopers within a Welsh Holiday Camp in the late fifties, some bizarre cuttings of an unearthly virus within Albion Hospital itself during the War he could just dimly recall as a young man of twenty five, the so-called 'Shoreditch Incident' of just three years ago where a dozen soldiers had been killed by what had been described as experts of the time to be an 'alien death-ray' within a seemingly normal London junkyard... this wasn't the first threat to Britain and likely wouldn't be the last but still... this was different. Covering something of this scale was to all accounts _impossible._ Whatever they would do, the public would know all too well that alien life existed.

He quickly tensed up as he spotted his target - Joseph Green, MP for Hartley Dale and Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the Monitoring of Sugar Standards in Exported Confectionary walked through the doors of Number Ten.

Under normal circumstances he would be just another small-fished representative of the British Government. But things had indeed changed, and it stood to the Secretary to deliver the news. "Thomas Cummingham, sir. Junior Secretary. I'll be your liaison."

"Where the hell is he?" Joseph Green was a rather large man, Thomas delicately thought, and he seemed to be similarly unnerved by the situation as he wiped his brow with a handkerchief.

"If... If we could talk in private, sir. Follow me, upstairs." They started to head for the route up to the more secure wing of the offices of the missing Prime Minister but were suddenly stopped by a kindly woman in her fifties, who flashed an ID and attempted to give a nervous smile.

"Excuse me! Harriet Jones. MP for Flydale North."

The irritated Thomas was already busy enough as it was and had no desire to have to deal with every single request from a dozen concerned Back Benchers and members of Office at once, even one as long going as Miss Jones. "I'm sorry, can it wait?"

The woman gave another kindly smile of apology. "Oh, I'm sorry But I did have an appointment at 3:15-"

"Yes. And then a spaceship crashed in the middle of London. I _think _the schedule might have changed." Though Thomas didn't want to brush her off he had little choice, and so moved back towards upstairs and the hopefully quieter areas of the Cabinet Rooms. He turned back to the still sweaty Joseph and coughed politely."You've heard about the alien body, sir?"

Joseph seemed as anxious to gain answers as he was. "Never mind that, _where is he?_ Where's the Prime Minister?"

Thomas had little choice but to give the grave news to the MP. "Well no one knows, sir. He's disappeared. I have to inform you with the city grid locked and the cabinet stranded that makes you acting Prime Minister. With _immediate effect._"

Joseph's face went as white as a sheet and Thomas wondered if he would have to steady him. "_Oh_... Oh Lord. Oh, hold on..." Thomas was suddenly met with a large fart from the weighty man, one which if he were of a less rushed mind he might have just opted to notice the odd smell of such a undignified yet probably understandable action. Of course he didn't and the Chairman gave a look of embarrassment. "Pardon me... nervous stomach. Anyway..."

The pair were approached by an equally overweight woman who came to walk alongside them, Thomas introducing her quickly. "This is Margaret Blaine. She's with MI5."

"There's no more information, sir. I personally escorted the Prime Minister from the cabinet room to his car - this is Oliver Charles, transport liaison." She said as a third man, also of a bulkier posture came to join them.

Oliver gave his own opinion as they reached the doorway. "The car disappeared, sir. There's no record of it, sir - it literally vanished."

Still appearing nervous the Chairman turned temporary Prime Minister motioned into the Cabinet itself "Right, er - inside, tell me everything."

Thomas passed him a red briefcase. "The emergency protocols, sir. Detailing the actions to be taken by the government of Great Britain in the event of an alien incursion."

"Right! Good!" Thomas raised a slight eyebrow as once more Joseph let out a loud fart with the same odd smell in the air. "Blimey! Pardon me. Get to work, eh?"

The MP nodded once at Thomas before he shut the door to the Cabinet Room where Margaret Blaine and Oliver Charles were waiting. For a moment there was silence as Joseph placed the briefcase roughly on the table, and then stared up at the two individuals who to all intents and purposes, he had never encountered before.

Then, a childish giggle came from his throat, one which grew in volume until he was roaring with laughter. Without prompt the other two weighty Governmental figures joined with him until all three were in hysterics. And the childish giggling gradually turned into a sinister set of chuckles on the two men and woman.

If indeed, they were human _at all..._


End file.
